Bill Kirby Jr.: Lucy Jones and Rakesh Gupta are community treasures

Thursday

There are those with benevolent hearts for others when it comes to this community they call home. If you might be wondering who they are, look no further than Lucy Jones and Rakesh Gupta.

“They are smart, kind and wonderful to everyone,” says Mary Holmes, executive director of the Cumberland Community Foundation. “Both are very generous to CCF with their time, talent and treasure.”

Jones and Gupta were recognized on June 21 at the foundation's annual board of directors meeting at CCF headquarters downtown, where Libby Daniel, the board president, echoes Holmes' words in the profound significance Jones and Gupta have brought to the charitable foundation founded in 1980 by the late Lucile West Hutaff, a professor of medicine, who had a vision for a better community for all.

“They are innovators and doers,” Daniel, 68, says, “driven by an internal desire to do the best they can for others.”

Jones was elected to the board in 2006, when Holmes says the foundation's assets were at $26 million, and the board dispensed $2.9 million in grants. Gupta joined the board in 2009, when those assets were at $33 million, and grants totaled $2.6 million. Today, Holmes says, foundation assets are at $89 million, with the foundation giving $5 million in grants annually.

“First of all, they are both really, really good people,” Holmes says.

Treasures, Holmes describes Jones and Gupta, devoted to bettering this community, and both with a sincere belief in the mission of the foundation.

“CCF’s mission says it,” Jones points to the organization's mission statement. "Giving Together To Enhance The Quality and Spirit of Community Life," and Gupta says so, too, with a reminder that just this week the foundation awarded $134,000 in grants to include assisting youth, older adults and victims of child abuse.

“This summer, scholarship grants totaled over $170,000 for opportunities to students advancing to college,” says Gupta, who is a local gastroenterologist. “Large and small contributions have been made to the Summertime Kids fund so that opportunities can be extended to the most deserving. The foundation fulfills the need of donors and of the grantees to projects such as The Fayetteville Symphony, the Cape Fear Regional Theater, the Cape Fear Botanical Garden, the Better Health organization and others.

Community needs are endless and the foundation's benevolence is endless.

“The corpus has now grown to over $89 million,” Gupta says, “and will live on forever.”

Humbly, Gupta and Jones will tell you they have played only a small part in the foundation's growth.

Daniel will tell you otherwise.

“Both are extremely committed to this community and its citizens, and they are willing to do everything they can to make a positive impact,” Daniel says. ”They are both extremely busy with professional and volunteer commitments, yet are tireless and have done everything needed. Nothing is too big or too small for them.”

While the foundation board says it is thankful for what Jones and Gupta have meant to the charitable benevolence, Jones and and Gupta will tell you they are more grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Lucile Hutaff's vision of nearly 40 years ago.

“It has been the most gratifying experience,” Gupta, 63, says. “I have met some wonderful people and staff that give of themselves each and every day, and with the sole purpose of contributing to a better community tomorrow. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and I am very proud to have been part of a wonderful and diverse service-oriented board that keeps its mission at its forefront. As a transplant to this community, my wife I feel a sense of belonging, and to be able to call this our home we could not be more grateful.”

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